http://www.newenergyworldnetwork.com/renewable-energy-news/by-technology/wind/juwi-widens-international-breadth-with-1-5gw-global-backlog.html

Signaling the success of its expansion into global markets, Germany-based wind power developer juwi has a 1.5GW backlog of international wind development projects in the pipeline for development over the next two years.

‘We focus on the great and economic potential of onshore wind energy – also in the area of repowering – and enter into new attractive markets,’ said juwi Wind managing director Dr Frank Finzel.
This year, juwi Wind made its entry into markets in Italy, Chile, Uruguay and South Africa – adding to its presence in renewable energy markets in France, the US, Costa Rica, Poland and Germany, which it said still remains in focus.
‘As general contractors we can offer our customers – municipalities, power suppliers and investors – the establishment of turnkey plants. We showcase projects in France, Costa Rica and the US,’ said Finzel.
Having recently added maintenance services for rotor systems engineering, juwi Wind expects its number of employees, which currently stands at 170, to double by 2012.
The project developer recently started its first project in Poland with the installation of three 1.5MW turbines in the south-west of the country. The three Fuhrländer turbines are located in Stypulow approximately 100km east of the German-Polish border, and are due to become operational in the next few months.
‘There is an increasing demand for our first-class services and competencies. For this reason, we are looking for highly skilled additions to our staff worldwide,’ said second juwi Wind managing director Dr Marie-Luise Pörtner.
The company has a deepening foothold in France, where it has developed eight wind farms in several parts of the country with an aggregate capacity of 75MW, and has a team of 20 employees in the country.
It also recently opened another office in Nantes, Italy and regional US headquarters in Colorado state to, ‘guarantee maximum yields and minimum operating cost’, according to Thomas Albrecht, managing director of juwi Managements.
From its company headquarters in Wörrstadt in Germany, juwi Managements operates more than 500 renewable energy plants worldwide, the majority of which consist of wind turbines.
These include the Guanacaste Wind Farm in Costa Rica, which was inaugurated at the start of the year and consists of 55 low rated output wind turbines of 900kW. The company has also started on a second 15.3MW wind farm in capital of Costa Rica, San José.
For the time being, juwi said Germany remains one of its most important markets, where it has developed 300 plants with a total output of 500MW. But while its previous focus has been on the south-west of the country, juwi said it will be active nationwide in Germany in the coming years.
The company also recently carried out a large repowering project that will provide a twenty-fold upgrade to the yield of a wind power project in the town of Schneebergerhof in Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany.
The repowering project will see an Enercon E40 wind turbine replaced with an Enercon E126 turbine within the next few weeks, which has a rated output of more than 18 million KWh per year.
Pörtner said, ‘With a meaningful and elaborate repowering – which means high performance wind turbines at good locations – one can produce more clean energy with fewer plants in the future.’
‘Wind energy in the inland [regions] is already competitive to conventionally generated power and still offers immense potential. Each turbine, each solar or bio energy plant that is producing energy on site brings lease and trade tax incomes to the region and boosts the economy. This is only possible with a decentralised concept,’ added Finzel.